Cubs, an all encompassing trip

6/2: Around the Cubs Minor League System

Javier Baez hit his first home run of his proessional career on Saturday night helping the Chiefs destroy Kane County 15-3. Baez ended the game going 3-for-5 with three RBI’s and two runs scored. Yasiel Balaguert and Taiwan Easterling also delivered three RBIS’s and Anthony Giansanti had two. Also contributing offensively was Wes Darvill who went 4-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored. One of the more unusual stats came from Pin-Chieh Chen who went 1-for-1 with five walks and four runs scored.As good as the bats were on Saturday, starting pitcher Jose Rosario was just as good. He pitched seven scoreless innings giving up three hits and striking out ten. He improved his record to 4-5. The game got interesting late when up 13-0 Baez swung at a 3-0 pitch. Kane County’s manager visited the mound and Baez got hit in the ribs on the next pitch. Things stayed calm and Baez will learn from the experience.

After scoring 16 on Friday night, Daytona answered by scoring 10 more Saturday beating Fort Myers 10-5. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit as Daytona pounded out 16 hits. John Andreoli scored three time and he Rubi Silva both had three hits for the Cubs. Arismendy Alcantara and Nelson Perez added two hits a piece with each driving in three runs. The Cubs used four pitchers to take care of the win. Ryan Searle eventually got his second win of the year as he went three strong innings in relief only giving up two hits and striking out three. The Cubs bats look stay hot as we move into Sunday.

Montgomery outlasts Tennessee winning 4-3 in 10 innings. The Smokies got the scoring started in the second inning and scored another in the fifth to take a 3-0 lead. Montgomery would put up a three spot starter Dae-Eun Rhee in the sixth and the score would stay tied until the bottom of the tenth when the Biscuits walked off with a win. Jae-Hoon Ha had three hits and a run scored on the day. RBI’s came from Justin Bour, Nate Samson, and Elliot Soto. Junior Lake had rough day as he went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. It is always tough to lose games when you are up by three or more runs late in the game, we will see how Tennessee responds.

Iowa scored enough to win most nights, but giving up seven runs in the seventh proved to be too much. It looked good for Iowa early as they scored the first five runs of the game. Oklahoma City would get right back in the game when they scored four in the third. Iowa would score the next three runs of the game, however the bullpen could not hold the lead giving up seven in the seventh. Offensively there were a lot of good things as Brett Jackson stayed red hot going 3-for-5 with two doubles and a triple. Anthony Rizzo was back on Saturday, he went 2-for-4 with a double. Former first rounder Josh Vitters continues to swing a good bat as he had two hits including his ninth home run of the year. Luis Valbuena, Ty Wright, and Blake Lalli all had multi-hit games. Unfortunately for Cubs this game was pitched by are all designated team, as Rodrigo Lopez, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Mike MacDougal were are all terrible. Hopefully Iowa can respond tomorrow with a victory.

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